Summary: Expository sermon of Sexual Abuse with regards to those who keep silent about the abuse or know of it taking place and doing nothing

And her brother Ab′salom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar dwelt, a desolate woman, in her brother Ab′salom’s house. 21 When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 22 But Ab′salom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Ab′salom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar.

• I would rather people hear the truth from the pulpit than to buy into a lie from the world! X 2

• Church it is imperative that we not only make preparation to receive Christ as the Church, but we seek to prepare ourselves to receive the brokenness of people whose idea of love is so perverted.

• Ammon was the first son of David, he was to succeed King David at his death. Absolom was the third son of David and both he and Tamar were considered most beautiful of the family of David.

• In Dr. Joyceln Elders book “Love Does No Harm” she says “ Previous experiences of abuse profoundly shape an individual’s perception of “normality” and what is ethically acceptable.”

• But I want to take it a step further and say that “Those who stand by and observe the abuse and do nothing shape the culture of acceptance for the abuser.”

When Christians refuse to confront abuse of another we…..

1. Condone the Abuse

II Sam 13:20

And her brother Ab′salom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister; he is your brother; do not take this to heart.”

• Now if you read the rest of this story, you will find out that Absolom waits 2 years after Ammon rapes his sister Tamar before he enacts on his revenge and Absolom kills his brother Ammon for the rape of his sister. But Absolom’s initial response is something that perpetuates in the life of church as well.

• “Shhhh sister….don’t tell…..shhhh he is your brother…shhh don’t take it seriously….shhhhh

• The church has a systemic problem with trying to keep people quiet when unethical things are done by those in the local church. To often things get swept under the rug, because we refuse to acknowledge that there is sin in the camp.

• We get to concerned about what people in the community will think about our church if something gets out.

• We exchange our Ethical compass for having a reputation.

• I was a youth pastor in a church, where the church secretary took $800 and was never prosecuted but allowed to make payments back to the church which she never did. But that family had no qualms in telling everyone what a bad church it was in the community.

• You know what should have happened? She should have been confronted and the leadership should have brought proof to the whole assembly and she should have been prosecuted and forced to pay back the $800.